What Happened, Chuck? (Updated 11/12)

State is close again but Clemson knocks the Wolfpack out of any of Chuck Amato’s ridiculous bowl dreams (ahhh, Boise in December) and the losing streak continues.

That is now FIVE IN A ROW with the opportunity to drop two more to our most heated rivals – UNC-CH and East Carolina. (Link to Sunday morning’s Caulton Tudor piece – “Heels could make Pack squirm”

N.C. State and Chuck Amato will walk into a situation that smacks of an ambush this coming weekend in Kenan Stadium.

In what will be Carolina coach John Bunting’s final home game, his players would like nothing more than to carry him off the field with an outcome that could put Amato’s coaching future in jeopardy.

Amato already is in hot water with the fans as his seventh season winds down. His overall ACC record is 25-30. A third straight loss to the Tar Heels, particularly these Tar Heels, would be enough to put Amato’s job security in jeopardy and to create the same sort of speculation and scrutiny that Bunting experienced.

On paper, this State-Carolina game looks like a dud. A 1-9 team under a lame-duck coach against a 3-7 opponent on a five-game losing streak. But given the potential stakes, there’s good reason for high suspense.

State is now guaranteed our second losing season in the last three years. So, we thought that it was most appropriate to refer back to Chuck Amato’s
post-game comments

from EXACTLY two years ago today! On November 12, 2004:

You could have the best defense in the country and yet not go to a bowl. Would you have ever believed that?

This is the first losing season this great university has had in seven or eight years, but it won’t happen again.

To be honest…we can TOTALLY understand how Chuck Amato could have felt so comfortable making that kind of statement. Take a look at the recruiting success that had produced the high-level of talent that Chuck knew was in the program.

Considering the strength of the talent in the program at the time and the obvious momentum that was still being enjoyed by the Pack in 2004, OF COURSE Amato would have never been able to have foreseen failure like the Pack is having AGAIN this year. Any coach who hasn’t been able to see his deficiencies that have existed for seven years is sure as hell not going to be able to foresee the future impact of shitty coaching on the talent for the future.

Link

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

'06 Football Chuck Amato General

105 Responses to What Happened, Chuck? (Updated 11/12)

  1. Great Dane Guy 11/11/2006 at 6:47 PM #

    For timing’s sake, we may want CTC here 1 more year. Think people!

  2. JimValvano 11/11/2006 at 7:25 PM #

    why?

  3. MatSci94 11/11/2006 at 7:44 PM #

    I’m probably in the minority, but this game was one of out better coached and played games this year.

    Coming into this game, we were given no chance to win. Many people expected us to get blown out. Even with the failed 4th down and down 14 points, the players did not give up, and fought back to tie the game. Some of that is the players, but a lot of that is the coaches.

    I’m not saying that I don’t want changes in the staff, just that I don’t see how you can look at this game and say ‘we suck.’ We played a good team and had chances to win the game.

    It *is* frustrating that it seems to be the same story every week, and that is a fair criticism for the coaches. Thats what I hated about where our BBall program has been…always just a little bit short.

    Sorry if this was rantish 🙂

  4. old13 11/11/2006 at 7:56 PM #

    I predicted a 2-10 season this year based on how young the team is. Unfortunately I see no major improvements in the areas needed to improve next year, i.e., OL and LB. I, therefore, predict a losing season for next year. Lee Fowler will, however, be O-fer forever as he is a COMPLETE and UTTER loser as an AD!

  5. Wulfpack 11/11/2006 at 8:47 PM #

    “I’m not saying that I don’t want changes in the staff, just that I don’t see how you can look at this game and say ‘we suck.’”

    Because Clemson, a team struggling more than anyone in the league, gave us every opportunity to win this game and we flubbed each and every one of them. We are so freaking afraid of going for it. So afraid of trying not to do the wrong thing. We are the spitting image of our lunatic coach. All talk and nothing to show for. This offense is totally anemic, allergic to the end zone. Look at the freaking ACC standings. WE SUCK. Need I say more?

  6. gopack968 11/11/2006 at 8:52 PM #

    ^^

    Right on the money. This game was winnable and we should have.
    I hate it for the players. They gave a lot today and it showed. They also avoided most of the dumb mental errors that have cursed us this season.

  7. NCSUDude17 11/11/2006 at 9:10 PM #

    Cowher? Chow? Johnson? Anybody? I have supported Chuck for a long while but this is absolutely rediculous. We play UNC next week and a win would probably save his job for this year and next, even if we get Southern Miss’ed by EZU, sad.

  8. Woof Wolf 11/11/2006 at 9:52 PM #

    This drive ended with six minutes left in the first half. Clemson was up 7-0.

    N 1-G C03 Baker, T. rush for 1 yard to the CU2
    N 2-G C02 Brown, A. rush for 1 yard to the CU1
    N 3-G C01 Brown, A. rush for no gain to the CU1
    N 4-G C01 PENALTY CU offside 0 yards to the CU1.
    N 4-G C01 Evans, D. rush for no gain to the CU1

    We moved the ball almost sixty yards; had a first down on the three; ran five straight plays up the gut; and walked away with 0 points.

    Anyone remember the double overtime loss in Columbus in 2001. We keep doing the same things that didn’t work last week or last month or five years ago.

    That’s why we suck.

  9. MatSci94 11/11/2006 at 10:10 PM #

    “Look at the freaking ACC standings. WE SUCK. ”
    “This offense is totally anemic, allergic to the end zone.”

    totally agree on both counts, and yet the players came to play, played hard, and had a shot at the end of the game to win it. That takes a lot of guts, and all I’m saying is that some of that is the coaches.

    One of my biggest criticisms of the coaches is that they can’t seem to motivate the players against the lesser teams (So Miss, UVa, etc)

  10. Wulfpack 11/11/2006 at 10:32 PM #

    As I sit here watching Wake Forest whip the absolute crud out of Florida State, can anyone provide me with a valid reason as to why it shouldn’t be us that is ruling the ACC? That is to say, if Wake can do it, why in the hell can’t we? I’m all ears.

  11. Woof Wolf 11/11/2006 at 10:47 PM #

    COACHING

  12. highstick 11/11/2006 at 10:50 PM #

    I never realized Derick Close was on the Board of Trustees. He’s Erskine Bowles nephew, I’d guess!

    By the way, we don’t need to keep Chuck for another year. The precedence was set in 1969 after Earle Edwards, hire an interim, Al Michaels, and the next year you hire a Lou Holtz.

    That was pathetic today and it’s a combination of performance on the field and coaching on the sideline. Unless you fix the coaching on the sideline, the performance on the field will not improve to the level that we can win on a consistent basis.

    It is long been evident that there needs to be a “housecleaning” in the Athletics Dept at State. Fowler, you may me sick! Have you no pride?? How can you possibly look at yourself in the mirror?

  13. 98st8 11/11/2006 at 10:51 PM #

    Can someone please answer this question for me? I have seen two SEC games today where a player dove into the endzone (NOT TRYING TO AVOID A DEFENDER) and not flagged for a penalty as we have been this year. Is this an ACC judgement call or do refs just not like us?

  14. Wolfpack4ever 11/12/2006 at 12:41 AM #

    I’ve learned that a lot of what gets written here is frustration so I am not going to respond to the individual posts. However…

    Our O-line sucks? Pat Meyer is a lousy coach? Our O-line cleaned the way for a lot of yard today and looked pretty darn good to me.

    Not one comment about our QB? Where are all the “play the back-up a few series in the first half� posters? Or was that just something to rag the coaches about? Or is it simply because 90% of us said Marcus Stone sucked and DEMANDED Daniel Evans play and are too embarrassed to mention that our QB ran out of miracles. Has anyone noticed that DE has more game losing INTs than game winning TDs?

    Not that Stone is really great, but what is the real difference between Stone and Evans. Evans won 2 games his first 2 starts and then what? And what is his fixation with Ant Hill? Why passs to Ant well in bounds with the clock critical? Why pass to board hands at all. Is a 5 yard dump pass all that useful with less thatn a minute to play? And don’t say the coaches told him to do it. We gave Evans all the credit when we won. He is deserving a good portion of the blame when we lose with him making dumb decisions. I thought he was the cerebral QB.

    Ride Chuck out on a rail if you will, however, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Tressman is a problem with a contract. IMNSHO Chuck is doing the right thing by not doing anything to publicly embarrass Tressman but I have no doubt that Tressman is hearing it big time from Chuck.

    Chuck’s dilemma: remove Tressman mid-season and break a cardinal rule in the brotherhood of coaches? Not likely to happen. If he does something like that, he will never get decent coaches here. Period. Not demote Tressman and risk getting canned himself.

    Close, low-scoring games are not lost by the defense, they are lost by the offense. Philip Rivers has been cited as the reason he, Chuck, won as many games as he has. Give this team a decently good QB and we could be 9 and 1 or even 10 and 0. I personally think it would be irresponsible to can a coach who has raised the funds Chuck has, established the recruiting base Chuck has, built a staff on the D side of the ball that plays extremely well given what was said about it to start the year, and has developed the O-line to the point is actually decent to good. The area that is not significantly better is the QB and passing game. (What happened to the vertical passing we were pooping our pants about a month ago.

  15. Running Wolf 11/12/2006 at 1:49 AM #

    In Sales and in Coaching…if you don’t put up the numbers you are gone…I still remember coach Bobby Bowden saying…”if FSU had Philip Rivers we would have had four National Championships…” Am I mad about Amato? Yes…do I understand why I am mad? Yes…and am I ready for a change? YES! Get Cowher and offer the Head D job to “Chesty” but his ego is larger than Wake County…so we already know the answer…It is time for Amoto to go and it is time to get a new A.D. I remember another guy very similar to CA and his name is Monte Kiffen…terrible Head Coach at State but turns out he is one of the best D coaches in the NFL…where Chuck needs to go. I refuse to blame the players or give them any great shakes…we are sitting on a 3-7 record which might end up as 3-9. The buck stops with the Head Coach and it is time to make a change IMHO. 🙁

  16. belowaverageprogram 11/12/2006 at 1:51 AM #

    Chuck should especailly be ashamed of what he is putting on the field. wasn’t this the time that state was gonna be a championship countender year after year. All those great recruits and look at your pathetic record.

    THE PRORAM STINKS!!!!!!! FIRE CHUCK ALREADY!!! Why wait for unc and ecu to kick our ass….Skip is clearly ab better coack than Amucko

    I swear if we lose to the tarholes and the buttpirates i will quit the wolfpack club. There is no explanation why a program like ecu should be doing better than State….How can that happen …. maybe we should hire skip with steve logan!!!!!!!!

  17. dj9686 11/12/2006 at 2:48 AM #

    Norm Chow… was it here I read he would only take two college head coaching jobs? One was not USC (I can’t remember who it was… ) and the other was NCSU. Bring him in … maybe he can get a long with a good D-coordinator as well?

  18. wufpaxno1 11/12/2006 at 9:02 AM #

    I posted this yesterday in the CUTigers paints a perfect picture post but it needs to be reiterated.

    The Definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results. What I just witnessed was insane! 5 shots at the end zone from the four and four of them where straight up the gut with the exact same results every time.

    I have defended Amato for years, but I can not watch this mess anymore. I just do not think that the man is very bright, a great salesman, but not very bright.

    Blame Trestman if you like, but the real problem here is that our head coach is a Whimp! I don’t mean that in a physical sense, but the discipline and turn over problems are a direct result of a coach who is more concerned with being his players buddy then being their mentor.

    What I heard happened after the Virginia game inside the locker room was a coach consoling his players and trying to lift their spirits by telling them that everything would be all right and that they still could turn things around, what should have happened was a full scale blow up.

    What I saw happen on the sidelines after Anthony Hill shoved a Georgia Tech player following a bad play by Hill was a coach afraid that he would upset his player if he admonished him and instead he consoled him and patting him on the butt when he should have been in his grill, or better yet he should have had Anthony’s position coach get in his grill.

    These are young men, if they can not take a tongue lashing and accept discipline how will they ever expect to be winners on the playing field and in life. They do not need to be babied, they need to be developed into men. Our young men in the armed forces have all been through boot camp and understand and respect the value of strong discipline so don’t tell me that the athletes on this team can not stand to endure the same.

    Amato is not Chuck the Chest; he has become Chuck the Charmin man because he is way to soft. If he does not get it together he will become Chuck the Chump!

    The problem with coaching turn over amoung assistants is not the assistants, it’s Chuck, he will not let them coach nor discipline their players and they finally get frustrated to the pint of leaving. You can not tell me that if coach Grobe was here in Raleigh, with the talent that NC State has here, that we would not be 10-0 and ranked in the top five. Grobe has virtually no turn over on his staff and no problems with discipline from his players. I am becoming a fan of “Weak Forest”, at least their A.D. knows what he is doing!

  19. RAWFS 11/12/2006 at 9:57 AM #

    “You people just need to shut up, write your checks and let the adults run things.

    And I don’t care about Internet squawk. Like CB radio and pet rocks, it is just a fad.

    Go Pack!
    Lee Fowler”

  20. canis lupis 11/12/2006 at 12:21 PM #

    Good thing some of the great coaches of old didn’t have to deal with the realities of football today. 24/7 sports channels, everyone is an expert, the game has become incredibly complicated and specialized, and recruiting is a nightmare. The great coaches of history would have been run out on a rail.

    The way things are going Bobby Bowden will probably get cut off at the knees. The guy won them two National Championships! They have a crappy year and they start talking about canning him. Hell, look at the game last night – the stadium emptied after half time. It’s depressing really, and you guys are feeding into this crap. You all want to be Ohio State or Michigan – news flash were not, and were never going to be with the mood swing fans. Those programs were being built a long time ago, with fan base that stood by throught thick and thin. This season hasn’t been great, and Amato isn’t the best, but we’re also not that bad, and he’s not the worst. Get some perspective. Next year will be a better year. And shame on all of you State fans that are already conceding defeat to UNC.

  21. StateFans 11/12/2006 at 12:23 PM #

    Are you REALLY referring to NC State’s football program in a similar cpmarison as FSU”s?

  22. canis lupis 11/12/2006 at 12:37 PM #

    Yes I’m that stupid. I think you missed the point.

    I’m saying Bowden has a bad season and the fans that were happy to have the freaking stadium named after him, are turning on him! What the hell is that? I’m saying that fans these days are a nightmare. Spoiled, and fair weathered. When we beat BC and FSU everybody was on a high, and on the Evans band wagon. We loose a long stretch of close games and were pissed again, and Evans has to go. You guys are manic. Hell, there’s plenty of problems to go around – FANS INCLUDED. Our star kicker is having a hell of a time. At the beginning of the season we’re all on board cause he’s our leading scorer and he’s money. His dad is ill, the kid is affected, misses kicks and we lose games. Face it folks were just not that good this year. Micro manage all you want it doesn’t change jack. The season is in the hole. Amato is not going to be fired. But many here will continue to beat the dead horse. And beat it. And beat it. And beat it some more. I have a crazy idea, how about being consistently positive the rest of the season and hope for the best. How about we cheer like hell, even when things aren’t going well.

  23. vtpackfan 11/12/2006 at 12:43 PM #

    There is obviously some film floating around of how our OL is susceptible to being bowled over at the goal line. Don’t want to look up stats but the average yards per game vs. scoring avg. our offense is putting up must seem ludicrus. Anyways, No one expected this team to succeed a whole lot this year, just as no one expected the leauge would suck so much. We haven’t been blown out and many games could have gone a different way had a few breaks come our way. This scenario makes it real hard to make a clear point for one side of a debate over another. About the only thing that can be agreed upon is everyone wants it (the season) to be over. The players , especially the seniors, have a couple games and I hope they make the best of them. I can’t say that I advocate one side or the other regarding Chuck the rest of the way out. Its his job and I sure hope he likes it because it doesn’t seem to be getting any better for him out there any time soon. Whats he gonna do, fire so more asst. coachs, recruit some more Fla kids and drive around in a new corvette. Does it ever get old? Its his personal dilema because WE ALL KNOW he will have the final and only say regarding his future at NCSU.
    I saw replays of game, did Baker really have 35 carries? Did Brown get injured? Nice 96 yards of passing, 4EVER is asking us to trash DE in some sort passive aggressive atttempt to say “your ignorant postings will now be acceptible if properly targeted”. So I guess I’ll help him by saying Daniel looked like every QB who has taken a snap since Phillip left.

  24. JT 11/12/2006 at 12:43 PM #

    The UNC game coming up may be Chuck’s version of Sendek’s 24 point loss to the Heels last year. If State loses it, all bets are off re. his future. He’s already proven that he’s not a very good coach. Losing to the Heels could push the situation past the tipping point. It would for me.

  25. pack99 11/12/2006 at 12:50 PM #

    Chuck is running a losing program that is showing less and less class all the time. I’m so sick of watching our thugs run their mouths after what should be routine plays, and while they are getting their ass handed to them, talking s*^t. There is such an obvious lack of discipline on this team it is nauseating. Losing is one thing that is hard to stomach, but when we do it looking like jackasses, it’s even harder

Leave a Reply